STORY WITH AUDIO: After 32 years, Los Angeles Kings great Rogie Vachon was named as an Honored Member of the Hockey Hall of Fame on June 27. Read his comments and listen to an exclusive interview with him below.

LOS ANGELES — As the saying goes, justice delayed is justice denied, and on June 27, the Hockey Hall of Fame corrected an injustice in the hockey world when they announced that former Los Angeles Kings goaltender Rogatien “Rogie” Vachon will be inducted as an honored member, joining Eric Lindros and Sergei Makarov in the Players category, on November 14 in Toronto.

Pat Quinn was elected posthumously in the Builders category.

Vachon first became eligible in 1987, but had been passed over time and time again, despite the fact that his numbers, honors and accomplishments shined brighter than so many others who had already been enshrined. So when the call came early this morning, Vachon was floored.

“I was in total shock,” he said. “All of a sudden, out of the blue, I get a call from [Hockey Hall of Fame Chairman of the Board] Lanny McDonald in Toronto, and he said, ‘congratulations. You’re in.’ I said, ‘yeah? In what?’ He said, ‘the Hall of Fame.’ I didn’t realize that he was on the Selection Committee. So he was the one who called me.”

LA KINGS HISTORY: Selecting defenseman Larry Murphy in the first round on the 1980 National Hockey League Entry Draft was a momentous occasion for the Los Angeles Kings. After all, they had a long history of trading away their first round picks and drafting poorly. But Murphy went on to become a star in the NHL, and a four-time Stanley Cup winner. The only problem, from a Kings perspective, was that, like so many others, Murphy went elsewhere to do it.

In the final installment of this series, Frozen Royalty spoke to Murphy about his time with the Kings, the friction with the coaching staff that started his problems with the team, and why he had to leave, a story that probably isn’t what you might expect.

EL SEGUNDO, CA — Defenseman Larry Murphy burst onto the scene with the Los Angeles Kings in the 1980-81 season, making a huge, immediate impact, scoring 16 goals and adding 60 assists for 76 points in 80 games in his rookie season—he finished second in the Calder Memorial Trophy (rookie of the year) to the legendary Peter Stastny that season.

Murphy scored 22 goals and tallied 44 assists for 66 points in the 1981-82 season, followed by 14 goals and 48 assists for 62 points in the 1982-83 season.

LA KINGS HISTORY: Defenseman Larry Murphy won four Stanley Cup Championships, two with the Pittsburgh Penguins, and two with the Detroit Red Wings, in a 21-year National Hockey League career that culminated in his induction into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2004. But fewer and fewer people remember that Murphy began his NHL career with the Los Angeles Kings in 1980. In the first installment of a series based on exclusive interviews, Frozen Royalty looks back at Murphy’s time with the Kings.

EL SEGUNDO, CA — Many may know Larry Murphy from his work on Detroit Red Wings broadcasts before he left Fox Sports Detroit a couple of years ago, or maybe you saw him as an analyst in spot duty on the NHL Network.

Many Kings fans are likely to be unfamiliar with Murphy since he spent the vast majority of his career playing for teams based in the Eastern time zone. But Murphy started his National Hockey League career with the Los Angeles Kings, who selected him in the first round (fourth overall) of the 1980 NHL Entry Draft.

LOS ANGELES — With National Hockey League teams opening rookie camps this week, and with training camps opening next week, the 2013-14 NHL season is just about upon us, and our focus will, of course, quickly turn to the teams and their players.

As reported in this space last February, Dionne said that receiving the ring was, “…the closing chapter in my hockey life.”

Vachon said that, “…I had absolutely no idea, no clue, that it was coming. It was just incredible.”

Another Kings alumnus had to wait just a bit longer for his Stanley Cup ring, one who worked 2,632 consecutive games over 34 seasons with the Kings (37 years with the franchise), and was as deserving as anyone.

LOS ANGELES — Over the last handful of years, I have written a few times about former Los Angeles Kings goaltender Rogie Vachon, who became the team’s first superstar after coming to the Kings from the storied Montreal Canadiens, where he won three Stanley Cup Championships.

In a word, Vachon was brilliant. Based on his record alone, he should have been a shoo-in to be inducted into the hallowed halls of the Hockey Hall of Fame (HHOF).

Despite that, Vachon remains on the outside looking in, primarily because those outside of the Los Angeles area rarely got to see him play—he never got the exposure in Canada or in Eastern Time Zone cities that he needed.

For those of you who may be unfamiliar with Vachon, or would like to know more, the following stories detail his accomplishments, and include comments from the man himself, based on exclusive interviews.

The logos of the Los Angeles Kings, the 29 other National Hockey League teams, and of the National Hockey League, are trademarks of their respective rightsholders and are used with permission of the National Hockey League.